"jason" wrote in message
...
I have a noisy upstairs neighbor. He weighs 300+ pounds and when he walks
back and forth, it sounds like a herd of elephants. I'd like to tape the
noise to share with my manager so we can work something out. I have a
microcassette recorder, and I've tried taping normally, then holding it up
to the ceiling. But no dice... since the recorder itself makes so much
noise. I'm wondering what I should try next. Are there "quiet" recorders
that would pick up the noisy footfall (creaking floorboards) and not add
noise of their own?

Thanks in advance for any help on this. This is one of those rare cases
where the manager is willing to help, so I'd like to do my part by
presenting some physical evidence.

You didn't mention whether your microcassette recorder has a
microphone input jack. If not, then you're likely looking at some
other method of recording. Do you have (or have access to) any
good microphones?

Why not invite your manager over to hear first hand?

The sounds that you want to record are in the very low frequency part of the
audio spectrum that you want to reproduce. They are most likely below 30 to
40 Hz. The human ear can hear a tone down to about 35 Hz, and can sense
sound to around 20 Hz or a bit less. The very low frequencies are felt more
than heard. Most home audio recording equipment has problems to get down to
below 40 to 60 Hz. Only squeaks and cracking noises, or the upper harmonic
content of the sound would be existing in a range that your recorder and
microphone can handle.

This is why you would be surprised, that the range of audio spectrum you
want to record is much lower than the microphone in your cassette recorder
can handle. Also, the recorder you are using will have to be able to handle
the range that you want.

Even if you had the recording equipment for this, you will need a sound
system that can play back the low frequency sounds that you recorded.


--

Greetings,

Jerry Greenberg GLG Technologies GLG
=========================================
WebPage http://www.zoom-one.com
Electronics http://www.zoom-one.com/electron.htm
=========================================


"jason" wrote in message
...
I have a noisy upstairs neighbor. He weighs 300+ pounds and when he walks
back and forth, it sounds like a herd of elephants. I'd like to tape the
noise to share with my manager so we can work something out. I have a
microcassette recorder, and I've tried taping normally, then holding it up
to the ceiling. But no dice... since the recorder itself makes so much
noise. I'm wondering what I should try next. Are there "quiet" recorders
that would pick up the noisy footfall (creaking floorboards) and not add
noise of their own?

Thanks in advance for any help on this. This is one of those rare cases
where the manager is willing to help, so I'd like to do my part by
presenting some physical evidence.

--
Cheers,
jason

"jason" wrote in message
...
I have a noisy upstairs neighbor. He weighs 300+ pounds and when he walks
back and forth, it sounds like a herd of elephants. I'd like to tape the
noise to share with my manager so we can work something out. I have a
microcassette recorder, and I've tried taping normally, then holding it up
to the ceiling. But no dice... since the recorder itself makes so much
noise. I'm wondering what I should try next. Are there "quiet" recorders
that would pick up the noisy footfall (creaking floorboards) and not add
noise of their own?

Thanks in advance for any help on this. This is one of those rare cases
where the manager is willing to help, so I'd like to do my part by
presenting some physical evidence.

--
Cheers,
jason

read the book "Spycatcher" assorted techniques in that for doing similar.

"jason" wrote in message
...
I have a noisy upstairs neighbor. He weighs 300+ pounds and when he walks
back and forth, it sounds like a herd of elephants. I'd like to tape the
noise to share with my manager so we can work something out. I have a
microcassette recorder, and I've tried taping normally, then holding it up
to the ceiling. But no dice... since the recorder itself makes so much
noise. I'm wondering what I should try next. Are there "quiet" recorders
that would pick up the noisy footfall (creaking floorboards) and not add
noise of their own?

Thanks in advance for any help on this. This is one of those rare cases
where the manager is willing to help, so I'd like to do my part by
presenting some physical evidence.

--
Cheers,
jason

read the book "Spycatcher" assorted techniques in that for doing similar.

In article M0njb.782408$Ho3.208623@sccrnsc03,
"malcolm" wrote:

"jason" wrote in message
...
I have a noisy upstairs neighbor. He weighs 300+ pounds and when he walks
back and forth, it sounds like a herd of elephants. I'd like to tape the
noise to share with my manager so we can work something out. I have a
microcassette recorder, and I've tried taping normally, then holding it up
to the ceiling. But no dice... since the recorder itself makes so much
noise. I'm wondering what I should try next. Are there "quiet" recorders
that would pick up the noisy footfall (creaking floorboards) and not add
noise of their own?

Skip tape, at least your microcassette tape. It is not designed or
capable of recording this.
Take your mp3 recorder, your miniDisc recorder or whatever, and get a
decent microphone.
No need to hold it up to the ceiling.

OTOH What do you want to do? Either you adjust to the noise, you get a
new neighbour or the sound isolation gets an improvement - the last one
is unlikely.

HTH

Marc

--
Marc Heusser - Zurich, Switzerland
Coaching - Consulting - Counselling - Psychotherapy
http://www.heusser.com
remove the obvious CHEERS and MERCIAL... from the reply address
to reply via e-mail

In article M0njb.782408$Ho3.208623@sccrnsc03,
"malcolm" wrote:

"jason" wrote in message
...
I have a noisy upstairs neighbor. He weighs 300+ pounds and when he walks
back and forth, it sounds like a herd of elephants. I'd like to tape the
noise to share with my manager so we can work something out. I have a
microcassette recorder, and I've tried taping normally, then holding it up
to the ceiling. But no dice... since the recorder itself makes so much
noise. I'm wondering what I should try next. Are there "quiet" recorders
that would pick up the noisy footfall (creaking floorboards) and not add
noise of their own?

Skip tape, at least your microcassette tape. It is not designed or
capable of recording this.
Take your mp3 recorder, your miniDisc recorder or whatever, and get a
decent microphone.
No need to hold it up to the ceiling.

OTOH What do you want to do? Either you adjust to the noise, you get a
new neighbour or the sound isolation gets an improvement - the last one
is unlikely.

HTH

Marc

--
Marc Heusser - Zurich, Switzerland
Coaching - Consulting - Counselling - Psychotherapy
http://www.heusser.com
remove the obvious CHEERS and MERCIAL... from the reply address
to reply via e-mail

In , on 10/14/03
at 03:08 AM, jason said:

I have a noisy upstairs neighbor. He weighs 300+ pounds and when he
walks back and forth, it sounds like a herd of elephants. I'd like
to tape the noise to share with my manager so we can work something
out. I have a microcassette recorder, and I've tried taping
normally, then holding it up to the ceiling. But no dice... since
the recorder itself makes so much noise. I'm wondering what I should
try next. Are there "quiet" recorders that would pick up the noisy
footfall (creaking floorboards) and not add noise of their own?

A carpet with a thick pad upstairs would help.

Thanks in advance for any help on this. This is one of those rare
cases where the manager is willing to help, so I'd like to do my part
by presenting some physical evidence.

A microcassette recorder is the wrong technology to use for this
purpose. A very good microphone and recorder would help, but even if
you successfully recorded the sound, I don't know how you would play it
back and make your point.

Consider: If you recorded a train rushing by, then played it back on a
small home audio system, the recording would lack impact. The actual
situation might take your breath away and/or trigger body responses
that occur only when it thinks the end is near. It is unlikely that you
will have access to a playback system the will generate the required
impact.

If you used some sort of sound pressure measuring device, you could
build a better case, but only if one of you is expert enough to
interpret the measurement results and can explain them to the other(s).

I think your best plan is to log times when the moose is tromping and
have the landlord stop by at a likely time. A VCR would be useful for
this task. Make sure you have method of estimating the actual time of
day for any point on the recording. Start the recording and go to work.
Later you can scan the tape and look for "events". Log the time of each
event, saving the tape if you want. You may find that the moose stomps
at convenient times (for the landlord) when you are normally out.

-----------------------------------------------------------
SPAM:
wordgame:123(abc):14 9 20 5 2 9 18 4 at 22 15 9 3 5 14 5 20 dot 3 15
13 (Barry Mann)
[sorry about the puzzle, SPAMers are ruining my mailbox]
-----------------------------------------------------------

In , on 10/14/03
at 03:08 AM, jason said:

I have a noisy upstairs neighbor. He weighs 300+ pounds and when he
walks back and forth, it sounds like a herd of elephants. I'd like
to tape the noise to share with my manager so we can work something
out. I have a microcassette recorder, and I've tried taping
normally, then holding it up to the ceiling. But no dice... since
the recorder itself makes so much noise. I'm wondering what I should
try next. Are there "quiet" recorders that would pick up the noisy
footfall (creaking floorboards) and not add noise of their own?

A carpet with a thick pad upstairs would help.

Thanks in advance for any help on this. This is one of those rare
cases where the manager is willing to help, so I'd like to do my part
by presenting some physical evidence.

A microcassette recorder is the wrong technology to use for this
purpose. A very good microphone and recorder would help, but even if
you successfully recorded the sound, I don't know how you would play it
back and make your point.

Consider: If you recorded a train rushing by, then played it back on a
small home audio system, the recording would lack impact. The actual
situation might take your breath away and/or trigger body responses
that occur only when it thinks the end is near. It is unlikely that you
will have access to a playback system the will generate the required
impact.

If you used some sort of sound pressure measuring device, you could
build a better case, but only if one of you is expert enough to
interpret the measurement results and can explain them to the other(s).

I think your best plan is to log times when the moose is tromping and
have the landlord stop by at a likely time. A VCR would be useful for
this task. Make sure you have method of estimating the actual time of
day for any point on the recording. Start the recording and go to work.
Later you can scan the tape and look for "events". Log the time of each
event, saving the tape if you want. You may find that the moose stomps
at convenient times (for the landlord) when you are normally out.

-----------------------------------------------------------
SPAM:
wordgame:123(abc):14 9 20 5 2 9 18 4 at 22 15 9 3 5 14 5 20 dot 3 15
13 (Barry Mann)
[sorry about the puzzle, SPAMers are ruining my mailbox]
-----------------------------------------------------------

Why not try the obvious trade apartments..... especially if your first floor
one has a cement floor.... even if it doen't you won't hear much....

Rgds:
Eric
"jason" wrote in message
...
Barry Mann wrote:

A carpet with a thick pad upstairs would help.

That much he has...

A microcassette recorder is the wrong technology to use for this
purpose. A very good microphone and recorder would help, but even if
you successfully recorded the sound, I don't know how you would play it
back and make your point.

Consider: If you recorded a train rushing by, then played it back on a
small home audio system, the recording would lack impact. The actual
situation might take your breath away and/or trigger body responses
that occur only when it thinks the end is near. It is unlikely that you
will have access to a playback system the will generate the required
impact.

Good point...That plus the inability to pick up the low freqs. I
actually tried taping my dishwasher, but noisy as it is, it sounded
muffled, and had zero "impact".

If you used some sort of sound pressure measuring device, you could
build a better case, but only if one of you is expert enough to
interpret the measurement results and can explain them to the other(s).

Hmmm...that's interesting. I talked to Radio Shack about a decibel meter
- not sure if it's the same thing. But they said it should be integrated
with a recorder so the results would be credible. So it's kind of a
circular thing. Hard to get around that recorder... Plus it would be
nice for the neighbor to hear it, because he's not likely to believe his
walking makes so much racket without it.


--
Cheers,
jason

Why not try the obvious trade apartments..... especially if your first floor
one has a cement floor.... even if it doen't you won't hear much....

Rgds:
Eric
"jason" wrote in message
...
Barry Mann wrote:

A carpet with a thick pad upstairs would help.

That much he has...

A microcassette recorder is the wrong technology to use for this
purpose. A very good microphone and recorder would help, but even if
you successfully recorded the sound, I don't know how you would play it
back and make your point.

Consider: If you recorded a train rushing by, then played it back on a
small home audio system, the recording would lack impact. The actual
situation might take your breath away and/or trigger body responses
that occur only when it thinks the end is near. It is unlikely that you
will have access to a playback system the will generate the required
impact.

Good point...That plus the inability to pick up the low freqs. I
actually tried taping my dishwasher, but noisy as it is, it sounded
muffled, and had zero "impact".

If you used some sort of sound pressure measuring device, you could
build a better case, but only if one of you is expert enough to
interpret the measurement results and can explain them to the other(s).

Hmmm...that's interesting. I talked to Radio Shack about a decibel meter
- not sure if it's the same thing. But they said it should be integrated
with a recorder so the results would be credible. So it's kind of a
circular thing. Hard to get around that recorder... Plus it would be
nice for the neighbor to hear it, because he's not likely to believe his
walking makes so much racket without it.


--
Cheers,
jason

In , on 10/16/03
at 08:52 PM, jason said:

[ ... ]

Hmmm...that's interesting. I talked to Radio Shack about a decibel
meter - not sure if it's the same thing. But they said it should be
integrated with a recorder so the results would be credible. So it's
kind of a circular thing. Hard to get around that recorder... Plus
it would be nice for the neighbor to hear it, because he's not likely
to believe his walking makes so much racket without it.

That meter is a decent deal, however, I'm not sure it will be useful in
this context. You are more interested in the peak energy than the
average. I don't recall if that meter has a peak function.

You would need to be able to record the meter readings, then explain
what they mean.

Perhaps you can enlist the aid of another moose and bring your neighbor
downstairs for a demonstration.

Also, a complication in these matters is that noises that drive one
person crazy may not be noticed by another. It can be very tense for
everyone because the issue is so obvious to both parties that neither
can accept the fact that the other guy just doesn't get it -- the other
guy must be lying and/or is just one of those people who can't live in
this world without picking nits with everything.

In most cases a civil conversation is all that is needed.

-----------------------------------------------------------
SPAM:
wordgame:123(abc):14 9 20 5 2 9 18 4 at 22 15 9 3 5 14 5 20 dot 3 15
13 (Barry Mann)
[sorry about the puzzle, SPAMers are ruining my mailbox]
-----------------------------------------------------------

In , on 10/16/03
at 08:52 PM, jason said:

[ ... ]

Hmmm...that's interesting. I talked to Radio Shack about a decibel
meter - not sure if it's the same thing. But they said it should be
integrated with a recorder so the results would be credible. So it's
kind of a circular thing. Hard to get around that recorder... Plus
it would be nice for the neighbor to hear it, because he's not likely
to believe his walking makes so much racket without it.

That meter is a decent deal, however, I'm not sure it will be useful in
this context. You are more interested in the peak energy than the
average. I don't recall if that meter has a peak function.

You would need to be able to record the meter readings, then explain
what they mean.

Perhaps you can enlist the aid of another moose and bring your neighbor
downstairs for a demonstration.

Also, a complication in these matters is that noises that drive one
person crazy may not be noticed by another. It can be very tense for
everyone because the issue is so obvious to both parties that neither
can accept the fact that the other guy just doesn't get it -- the other
guy must be lying and/or is just one of those people who can't live in
this world without picking nits with everything.

In most cases a civil conversation is all that is needed.

-----------------------------------------------------------
SPAM:
wordgame:123(abc):14 9 20 5 2 9 18 4 at 22 15 9 3 5 14 5 20 dot 3 15
13 (Barry Mann)
[sorry about the puzzle, SPAMers are ruining my mailbox]
-----------------------------------------------------------

I have a noisy upstairs neighbor. He weighs 300+ pounds and when he walks
back and forth, it sounds like a herd of elephants. I'd like to tape the
noise to share with my manager so we can work something out. I have a
microcassette recorder, and I've tried taping normally, then holding it up
to the ceiling. But no dice... since the recorder itself makes so much
noise. I'm wondering what I should try next. Are there "quiet" recorders
that would pick up the noisy footfall (creaking floorboards) and not add
noise of their own?

Thanks in advance for any help on this. This is one of those rare cases
where the manager is willing to help, so I'd like to do my part by
presenting some physical evidence.

--
Cheers,
jason



Actually to do this correctly, you need a decent microphone and preamp as well
as a recorder that does not have the automatic volume control that a
microcassette has.

Microcassettes are CRAP! They were designed for close dictation work and
nothing else.

I get at least one call each week from somebody that has bodged a recording
using one and wants it cleaned up.



Richard H. Kuschel
"I canna change the law of physics."-----Scotty

I have a noisy upstairs neighbor. He weighs 300+ pounds and when he walks
back and forth, it sounds like a herd of elephants. I'd like to tape the
noise to share with my manager so we can work something out. I have a
microcassette recorder, and I've tried taping normally, then holding it up
to the ceiling. But no dice... since the recorder itself makes so much
noise. I'm wondering what I should try next. Are there "quiet" recorders
that would pick up the noisy footfall (creaking floorboards) and not add
noise of their own?

Thanks in advance for any help on this. This is one of those rare cases
where the manager is willing to help, so I'd like to do my part by
presenting some physical evidence.

--
Cheers,
jason



Actually to do this correctly, you need a decent microphone and preamp as well
as a recorder that does not have the automatic volume control that a
microcassette has.

Microcassettes are CRAP! They were designed for close dictation work and
nothing else.

I get at least one call each week from somebody that has bodged a recording
using one and wants it cleaned up.



Richard H. Kuschel
"I canna change the law of physics."-----Scotty